Shoe-upper and method of finishing the edges thereof



D. DANIELS SHOE UPPER AND METHOD OF FINISHING THE EDGES THEREOF.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-3,1921.

Patented Deco 2D, 1921.:

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DAN DANIELS F HAVERHILL, IMASSACHUSETTS, ASSIG-NQR T0 LOUIS- H. HARRIMAN, TRU$TEE 0F HAVERHILL, MAShACH'lTSEfi-TS.

SHOE-UP?JER AND METHOD OF FINISG THE EDGIES THEREOF.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 261, 1921..

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAN DANIELS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haverhill, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an llm rovernent in Shoe-Uppers and Methods of inishing the Edges Thereof, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of shoes, more par ticularly shoes for women of the higher grade, it is customary to form what is known as a French cord edge on the edges iili of the upper, and the straps, and the method by which a French cord edge has usually been formed, is to stitch a narrow ribhon, or galloon at one edge, close to the edge, and on the outer, or grain side, of the upper, so that the opposite portion of the galloon from the stitches extends over the surface of the upper face side down. The galloon is then turned over the edge of the upper and cemented to the inner side of the upper, this operation being known as French cord turning. This operation is slow, expensive and difiicult, partly because it is diihcult to tum the galloon over evenly, and also bewill- 7W it is dii'licult to cement it in place. It i entirely a hand operation and the fingers frequently become soiled with the cement, so that, in handliiig the upper, it is difiicult to prevent the cement from being applied to the outer side thereof, and, when this occurs, the added operation of cleaning the upper is necessary, which, with fancy leathers, is difiicult, and even impossible in some instances. After the galloon has been turned and cemented in position, the lining is stitched on against the inturned edge of the galloon. l fhile an edge finished in-this manner, is said to be corded, it is merely 7 an operation designed to give that appearance, as it is the edge of the upper over which the galloon is bound, which holds up the galloon, so as to give it the appearance of a cord on the edge, and unless the upper is of uniform thickness, and unless the galloon is stitched at a uniform distance from the edge of the upper, the results secured are unsatisfactory. liability of imperfect worlr is,-therefore, great, and frequently occurs.

The primary object of my invention is to avoid the difficulties, expense and delays incident to the operation of French cord turning, at present generally performed,

and to provide an improved method of cording the edges of shoe uppers, which may be performed at a greatly reduced labor cost, and to produce a shoe having the edges of the upper thereof have a corded? edge which is uniform in appearance under practically all conditions and which is of a substantially improved appearance, as compared with the corded edge previously produced.

I accomplish this object by providing a galloon having a cord or thickened portion at one edge, stitching the galloon to the outer side of the upper closely adjacent the cord, creasing the upper on a line directly beneath the cord and pressing the portion of the upper and galloon beyond the stitches against. the inner side of the upper, and then stitching the lining against the inwardly bent portions of the linin and galloon.

F or a more complete un erstanding of my invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which igure 1 is a perspective view illustrating an initial step in the performance of the hereinafter described method, embodying my invention.

l i 2 is a combined sectional and perspective view of the work after this initial operation has been performed.

Fig. '3 is a sectional view of the work after the next operation has been performed thereon.

Fig. d is a perspective view illustrating the final stitching operation which is performed.

Figs. 5 and 6 are combincdsectional and perspective views of the work at the end of the final stitching operation, showing slightly different results which may be seecured.

Fig. 7 is a similar view of the finished work. i

Fig. 8 is a detail view of the galloon, as prepared for the initial operation, and

9 is a perspective view, illustrating a method of preparing the galloon in the form shown in Fig. 8.

. According to my invention, as a preliminary to the performance of what is strictly the shoe factory operation, the ordinary gal loon, flat tape, or ribbon a, which is ordinarily used for the operation of French cording shoes, is folded longitudinally about a cord a, and is preferably stitched in folded position, this operation being illustrated, in a general way, in Fig. 9, the galloon-being fed through a folding attachment, as c, and the cord 6 being fed into the middle of the fold, so that it will be held in one edge of the resulting strip, as shown in Fig. 8.

For the purposes of my invention,the folds of the galloon may either be stitched to gether by a line of stitches, as d, or cemented together, ormay be both stitched and cemented, or the cord may, if it is practicable to do so, be woven into one edge of the galloon at the time the latter is woven, and in fact, any method which will provide a galloon having ,one of its edges thickened by .a cord, orother suitable means, will serve the purpose more or less satisfactorily and' will be within the spirit, and scope. of my invention. The form shown, and the method of producing it, above indicated, is, however, the most satisfactory of which I am at present aware. Moreover, the operation illustrated in Fig. 9 may be performed as a part of the initial stitching operation presently to be described, but, as a practical matter, it is less expensive, so far as labor costs are concerned, to provide the factory, where the shoe uppers are assembled and stitched, with the galloon having a cord in one edge, as shown in Fig. 8. The diameter of the corded edge, should, in practice, be

approximately equal to the thickness of the shoe u per in connection with which it is to be used.

As a further preliminary to the operation to be described, the edge portion of the upper 6 is skived, as indicated at 6, except in those cases where the upper is very thin. In most instances, however, it is preferable to perform this skiving operation, as an edge portion of uniform thickness, which may be readily folded, is thus formed, and for other reasons which will appear.

In performing the initial stiching operation, the galloon, with thecord in one edge,

as shown in Fig. 8, is stitched onto the outer surface of the upper in such a position that the cord is at a substantial distance from the edge of the upper, and parallel thereto. The line of stitches, f, by which the galloon is thus attached, are located as closely as practicable to the cord, and, preferably when attached, the edge of the upper and the op osite edge of the galloon from the cord wil be approximately.coincident, although this is not essential to satisfactory results.

For the purpose of facilitating this initial stitching operation an ordinary upper-- stitching machine is preferably fitted with a tubular guide, as 0a, through which the galloon, as prepared with the cord in one edge, may be fed, said guide being arranged to deliver the galloon directly in front of the needle and being supported at a suflicient distance above the surface of the table to permit the upper to be fed beneath it. A guide, as y, is preferably provided on the table for the edges of the upper. As shown in Fig. l, the galloon is drawn down through the tubular guide and attached in the desired position to the upper, which is fed beneath it, and, when once attached, the galloon will. be fed automatically from a reel or spool, or drawn therefrom by themechanism which feeds the upper.

When this operatlon is finished the Work will be in the form shown in Fig. 2.

The skived surface e, or the portion of the flesh side of the upper adjacent itd edge is then preferably coated with cement, and, when the cement has dried sufliciently for quick adhesion the portion of the upper beyond the line of stitches f, and the portion of the galloonwhich rests thereon, are folded back onto the inner, 0r skived side of the upper, and pressed thereagainst, so that the inwardly folded portion of the upper will be adhesively connected thereto. The upper is thus provided with a folded edge. This folding operation, when erformed by hand, is performed by ben ing back'the galloon and upper edge portion and pressing the fingers against the opposite sides of the cord, so that the upper will be creased in such a line that the cord will lie in the plane of the upper or on its edge. A the thickness, or diameter, of the corded edge of vthe galloon is approximately the same as the thickness of the upper, in performing the operation, the cord will be pressed toward the back side of the upper until it is practically flush at each side with the opposite sides of the folded edge. The cord thus enables the operator to determine readily the desired position of the crease by merely drawing the finger along at each side of the cord, and at the same time pressing them against the outer side of the upper and against the portion of the galloon which is folded against the inner side. The operator is, consequently, able to tell, by feeling, if the crease is formed in such a position that the cord will be held on the middle of the folded edge of the upper. This operation is also made easier by the presence. of the line of stitches closely adjacent the cord, which have the effect of scoring and enables the upper to be more easily creased in the line which is directly beneath the cord. As the inwardly bent portion of the upper will adhere as soon as it is pressed against the inner surface of the upper, the operation may be rapidly performed, and, at the end of this operation, the ed e of the upper will be in the form indicate in Fig. 3.

The final stitching operation then consists in stitching the lining g to the back slde of the upper by a line of stitches which may either be assed through the'galloon between the foded edge. of the upper and the cord, as indicated ,at hin Fig. 5, or which may be passed through the doubled portion of the upper adjacent said edge, as indicated in Fig. 6. The construction of Fig. 5 is, however, preferable, for the reason that the lining attaching stitches will be entirely concealed beneath the cord, while, so far as strength and durability is concerned, there is little, or no practical advantage of one over the other. The groove be tween the cord and upper also provides an effective guide for the operator in performin the lining stitching operation.

This operation is practically the same as the ordinary operation of sewing on the. lining, and is illustrated in Fig. 4. The lining is usually made somewhat large, and, at the end of this operation, the edge portion is trimmed down to approximately the middle of the cord, as indicated in Fig. 7.

As thus finished, the edge of the upper has much the same outward appearance as the form of French cord edge which has been previously produced, except that it is perfectly uniform and is more perfectly rounded. Moreover, it actually has a cord on its edge, which the other does not,

\Vhile it is desirable to perform, as a separate operation, the operation of cementing the back side of the upper adjacent its edge and then folding in the edge portion of the upper, so as to form a crease therein, on which the cord is positioned, if the cementingoperation is omitted, the folding operation may be performed as a part ofthe final operation of stitching on the lining. That is the operator may fold over a short section of the upper as it is placed in the machine, and then continue to fold it over as it is fed to the machine. The shoe, when finished, is, however, more desirable when the inturned edge of the upper is cemented down, as it substantially increases the stiffness of the edge portion, and isthereby less likely to get out of shape when worn.

So far as the scope of my invention is concerned, itis immaterial whether the turning and creasing operation is performed as a separate step Or in conjunction with the operation of stitching on the lining, as, in either instance, the turning operation is perfomed in advance of the stitching operation.

I claim:

1. The method of finishing the edges of shoe uppers which consists in, attaching a galloon, having a corded edge, to'the outer side of the upper by a row of stitches whlch pass through the galloon between its corded and its opposite edge and through the upper at an approximately uniform distance from the edge thereof, inwardly folding the edge portions of the upper, with the galloon thereon, on a line directly beneath the corded edge of the galloon, placing a lining on the inwardly turned galloon and stitching them together by a line of stitches which pass through the galloon closely adjacent its corded'edge.

2. The method of finishing the edges of shoe uppers which consists in attaching a galloon, having a corded edge, to the outer side of the upper by a row of stitches which pass through the galloon between its corded and its opposite edge and through the upper at an approximatelyuniform distance from the edge thereof, inwardly folding the edgeportions of the upper, with the galloon thereon, on a line directly beneath the corded edge of the galloon, placing a lining on the inwardly turned galloon and stitching them'together by a line of stitcheswhich pass through the galloon between its corded edge and the edge of the fold in the upper, so that they are concealed in the crease therebetween.

3. The method of finishing the edges of shoe uppers which consists in stitching a galloon, having a cord in one edge, to the outer side of the upper by a line of stitches which pass through the galloon in close proximity to the cord therein and through the upper at an approximately uniform dis tance from its edge, folding the edge portion of the upper against its inner side on a line closely adjacent said line of stitches and in such a position that the cord is disposed directly on the edge of the fold in the upper and the galloon is unturned on the foldedin portion thereof, and then stitching a lining onto the unturned galloon by stitches which pass through the galloon between the cord and edge of the fold in the upper.

4. The method of finishing the edges of shoe uppers which consists in skiving the edge-portion thereof on its inner side, stitching a galloon having acorded edge to the outer side of said skived upper portion by a line of stitches which pass therethrough intermediate thereof and through the gal loon closely adjacent its cord, folding the skived edge-portion of the upper against its inner side on a line in close proximity to the line of said stitches, so that the corded edge of the galloon is coincident with the edge of the fold and the galloon lies'on the foldedin edge of the upper, and then stitching a liningonto the folded-in galloon by stitches which pass through the galloon between its corded edge and the edge of the fold in the upper.

5. A shoe upper having its edge portion folded against its inner side, a galloon having a thickened edge, stiched to said inwardly folded edge portion in a position to hold its thickened edge directly on the edge of the fold in the upper, and a lining attached to the galloon by a line of stitches which extends through the gallopn between its said'edge and the edge of the fold.

side to form a folded edge, a galloon having a cord inclosed therein at one edge and stitched to said inwardly folded edge portion in a line in close proximity to the cord and in position to hold the cord on the middle of the'folded edge and a lining attached to the galloon by stitches which extend therethrough between the cord and the folded edge of the upper.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

DAN DANIELS. 

